PTA Awards 4G Spectrum and License to Telenor Pakistan

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued 850MHz spectrum (3G/4G) license to Telenor Pakistan after it paid withholding tax of Rs 4.13 billion ($39.5 million).

Telenor had earlier refused to pay withholding tax of $39.5 million, i.e. 10 percent of the total auction price ($395 million) of next generation mobile services (3G/4G), while terming it unlawful, baseless and based on a gross misinterpretation of provision of the law. Telenor had filed petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the federal government including FBR and PTA.

After hearing Telenor as well as the federal government, Islamabad High Court had reserved the judgment, however later the telecom company reached the Court while pleading that it may be allowed to pay the withholding tax, Chairman PTA Syed Ismail Shah told this correspondent here on Friday.

After getting court’s nod, Telenor deposited $39.5 million to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the latter (FBR) subsequently issued Non-Objection Certificate (NoC) to PTA for issuing 4G license to the company, said Chairman PTA adding that the license has been issued and Telenor can now provide 4G services in the country.

It maybe recalled that Telenor was only bidder in 850MHz spectrum auction that PTA held in June 2016 and hence it was awarded 10MHz block from 850MHz spectrum at a price of $395 million.

Chairman PTA further confirmed that Telenor has already deposited half of price, i.e. $197.5 million while the remaining 50 percent will be paid in five equal annual installments along with cumulative mark-up @ LIBOR + 3 percent from effective date of license to date of payment.


  • So, from now on don’t buy a phone which doesn’t have support for LTE 850MHz.

  • PTA Should Stop Providing Type Approvals to all those 4G phones immediately who are not supporting 4G on 850 MHz band 5 And 1800Mhz Band 3 . Otherwise Telenor will face lack of supporting handsets in market for their 4G band. Currently only 10% 4G sets in market are compatible with this band which is alarming for Telenor
    Qmobile, Huawei, Infinix, 4G Model Both Frequency Not Supported

    • Yes unfortunately sold my note 4 which supported 850Mhz and got P9 Lite which is not supported now :( Waiting for Mobilink 4G now :D which will not be available anytime sooner :(

      EDIT :: TIME TO GET NOTE 5 :D

    • its not okay. T-mobile and At&t phones also dont support each other’s 4g but FCC never blocked it.

      • استعمال شدہ موبائل کی بات نہیں کر رہے بلکہ
        Qmobile, Huawei, Infinix, Draz, Cheese Mall,
        M&P, i2,
        جیسے بڑے امپورٹر پر لازم کرے کہ بینڈ 5، بینڈ 3، کے بغیر کوئی موبائل فون متعارف نہیں کروا سکیں
        آپ سرچ کر لیں نئے دستیاب ماڈل 200 کے قریب موبائل دونوں فریکوئنسی کو سپورٹ کرتے ہیں

        • They have same standard for everyone. Bulk imported have to pay money too to get phone certified. Nothing different on PTA’s end. It’s just that they want less and less handsets imported so they can send more money to places like Panama.

          • Market Main American Model AT&T, Tmobile Ke Value Wesy Hi Down Ha Or 1800Mhz, 850MHz Ki Waja Se Or Down Ho Jay G American Model 850MHz Supported Hain Jub Customer NE Pesy Deny Ha To Wo Lazmi 4G Frequency Dekhy Ga
            Ab Huawei Ki Market Value Down Ho G Qk Huawei K Sirf 9 Mobile Band 3 Or Band 5 Supported Hain Baki Main Band 3 Ha Ya Band 5

            • u maybe right on business point of view. But folks in Pakistan may get better deal on 30 day phones or refurbished phones from America. As they are much much cheaper as compared to the ones offered here officially. 30 percent tax makes a phone too much expensive.

    • sir the current number of handsets that support 850 band is 75% :D the numbers you have been provided by which party?

      • Bhai Jaan 75% 4G User Telenor Use Nahi Karty Or Mostly Korean & American Model 850MHz Supported But 1800Mhz Band 3 Not Supported
        LOG IPhone Nahi Kharedty Jis Main Sirf Telenor Ya Jazz Ki SIM Chalti Ho
        Jub 3G Launch Nahi Hoi Thi TAB 3G, 4G Koi Nahi Dekhta Tha Launch K Bad Sab Model Farigh Ho Gai Jo Zong Ya Warid 4G Lte Supported Nahi Thay

    • it is just plain wrong to expect phone makers to make a special model for Pakistan where most people get cheap smuggled phones from abroad while local phones come at 30 percent tax.

      • A LTE phone can support all bands, it just the software that activate some frequencies and disable others. Only a little change in software can done the trick

        • So you mean if my phone is a 1800MHZ LTE supported then i can get 850MHZ LTE 4G band enabled? R u kidding me dude?

          • No you can not. Only a phone manufacturer can do it. If a P9 lite is only 1800 MHz LTE supported but not for 850 MHz, Huawei can make this Frequency active by just an over the air update, but companies never did this to secure sale of upcoming phones.

          • Huawei K Sirf 9 Mobile Band 3 Or Band 5 Supported Hain Baki Main Band 3 Ha Ya Band 5
            Huawei P8, Huawei P9, Huawei P9 Plus, Huawei P9 Lite,
            Huawei Mate S, Huawei Mate 7, Huawei Mate 8, Huawei Nexus 6p, Huawei Ascend Y550

          • forums on xda so show how to unlock bands on qualcomm based phones but many modems dont support hardware wise some bands even if u unlock via software trick.

        • No , wrong . It also depends upon the modem. Qualcomm devices have software unlocking method but still not every frequency gets unlocked.

      • 1800Mhz Band 3 Zong, Warid Same Frequency Telenor 4g 850MHz Band 5
        Gsmarena, Com Par Phone Finder Main 4G Option Main Dono Frequency Tik Karain Or Search Karin Taqreban 300 K Qareeb Mobile List Apke Samny Aa Jay Jo Apki Choice K Mutabik Ho

    • If they use this spectrum for 4G which is most likely, there will be no effect on their 3G

        • Most number of users didnt own a 4G phone, so as far as near future is concerned, It will probably not.
          5 MHz is a lost bet because from this 5MHz a service provider have to spare some spectrum for voice and sms, so for data use spectrum becomes more narrow.

    • GSM Arena Dot com Par Jain Phone Finder Par Click Karain 4G K Options Main 1800Mhz or 850MHz Ko Check Karain Or Then Serch

  • Telenor will have better indoor LTE signals as compare to Zong and Mobilink due to low Freq of 850 MHz as compare to 1800 MHz of Zong and Mobilink. But due to same low Freq Telenor 4G speed will struggle as compare to other opponents due to intereference.

    • Mene Telenor 4g K Aj Signal Check Kiay Hain F-11 Markaz Main inke Head Office K Pass Tower Par 4G Ki Service Available Ha Or Uski Coverage Taqreban 4Km K Area Main Ha

      • That because of low frequency, penetration of signals will be high. But speed might probabaly remain low due to interference.

    • بھائی 3 جی پر لوڈ کم کرنے کے لیے ہی 4 جی پر خرچہ کیا ہے اور اوپر سے 3 جی چلتا نہیں اور 4 جی لے لیا ہے کی گردان نہیں ختم ہو رہی
      ٹیلی نار 3 جی کی بس میں بیٹھے 4 جی کے مسافروں کے لیے علیحدہ سے 4 جی بس خریدی ہے تا کہ آپ 3 جی والے کچھ بہتری محسوس کریں

  • firends..alcatel mobile ke official pakistani web sit bta ya fb page ….. plz

  • 3g sambhala nahi ja raha aur 4g lay aye. 3g to aj tak chala nahi in ka sahi say .. indoor signal hi nahi.

    • بہن جی سنا ہے جو فریکوئنسی 850 ہے اس کے سگنل گھر کے اندر بھی آتے ہیں اور کوریج بھی زیادہ ہے مگر سپیڈ کی کوئی گارنٹی نہیں

        • جی باجی یہ فور جی کی فریکوئنسی ہے فور جی آنے سے 20 فیصد تک 3 جی کی سپیڈ بھی بہتر ہو گی مگر بالکل ٹھیک نہیں ہو گی اور موبی لنک 4 جی لانچ ہونے سے کچھ کسٹمر تقسیم ہو جائیں گے اور آنے والے دنوں میں اس میں بہتری ہوگی ابھی تو چھوٹے شہروں میں نام کی ہی 3 جی ہے کیونکہ کہ بہت کم بوسٹر لگے ہیں

    • IPhone 5 To Shaid Hi Supported Ho
      IPhone 6 K Bhi Kuch Model Supported Hain
      Gsmarena Par Serch Kar Lain

    • iPhone 5 (A1429) is only supported.
      All iPhone 5s and later models are supported.

      • Sirf Telenor 4g Ki Bat Nahi Kar Raha Band 3 Or Band 5 Ki Bat Ha
        Band 5 To Taqreban Tamam American Model Main Ha

  • telenor will introduce some third class smartphones with crappy specs which will support their 4g network…the same they are doing with 3g by bringing crapware devices for their 3g network////

  • Lower frequency bands are often described as “beach-front property.One advantage of lower frequencies is that the signals have better penetration, meaning they pass through objects such as walls with less attenuation. This effect results in better in-building penetration.In trying to cover an area with the minimum number of sites, using 1800 MHz takes somewhere between 2 to 4 times as many sites as 850 MHz.

    On other hand, It takes more sites to build out at 1800 MHz, but the increased number of sites simultaneously translates to much greater capacity. So even if it were to take three times as many sites for 1800 MHz as for 850 MHz, the 1800 MHz network will have three times as much capacity as the 850 MHz network, and the overall LTE network now has four times the total capacity as it did with just the 850 MHz band. Given that lower frequencies have such good propagation, one might wonder whether it might actually be a liability to use them in denser deployments with smaller cells. In other words, the signal in one cell might keep propagating into neighboring cells and cause excessive interference. Actually, an operator can prevent such excessive propagation by using down-tilt on the base station antennas. Thus the operator could ultimately build a high capacity network using lower frequencies and smaller cells.

    The bottom line is that lower frequencies do offer advantages, but these advantages are often overstated. Most usage of mobile broadband networks will occur within higher population densities in which networks will have to be designed for capacity rather than coverage. In these scenarios, low and high frequencies offer almost equivalent performance.

      • بھائی دل پر مت لیں
        زونگ کی 4 جی کلوؤڈ لے کر انلاک کروا لیں اور پھر جو مرضی سم استعمال کریں اور وائی فائی سے کنکٹ کریں

                • In June, Telenor Pakistan acquired 2×10 MHz spectrum in the 850 MHz frequency band for the base price of USD 395 million. Yeh 850 MHz main ek block hai ya 2 ?

                    • n June, Telenor Pakistan acquired 2×10 MHz spectrum in the 850 MHz frequency band

                    • Telenor Pakistan posted a revenue growth of 9% during Q2 2016 — as compared with same duration last year — as it generated Rs. 26.53 billion during the reported period.

                      Telenor said that increase in revenues was mainly supported by strong subscription growth, continued growth in financial services and higher incoming international traffic.

                      EBITDA in local currency increased by 46% through rationalization of commissions and market spend in addition to positive contribution from the abolishment of SIM activation tax from 1 July 2015.

                      The EBITDA margin increased by 11 percentage points.

                      Capital expenditure (excluding licences) was prioritized towards network roll-out and expansion of 3G network coverage and capacity. At the end of the quarter, the 3G population coverage was 58%.

                      The number of subscriptions increased by 1.2 million during the quarter and the subscription base was 20% higher than at the end of second quarter last year.

                      Telenor said that its subscribers reached 37.91 million at the end of reported period, out of which 290,000 subscribers were postpaid subscriptions while remaining were prepaid.

                      ARPU in local currency decreased by 3% and reached Rs. 212. ARPU was stabilized during recent months after it had increased due to disconnection of unverified and inactive SIM cards last year.

                      Subscription and traffic revenues in local currency increased by 11%.

                      In June, Telenor Pakistan acquired 2×10 MHz spectrum in the 850 MHz frequency band for the base price of USD 395 million.

        • yar Allah ka wasta hai dont use Urdu font :P its really hard to read it on mobile :P

  • In June, Telenor Pakistan acquired 2×10 MHz spectrum in the 850 MHz frequency band for the base price of USD 395 million. Yeh Ek 850 MHz main ek block hai ya 2 ?


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